3 Vocabulary The question of what is included in the vocabulary of a particular variety of English (or any other language) raises a number of questions. The first of these is at what point a word adopted from a contact language becomes a word of English. Consider a simple case of adoption from French in current British English. The word baguette is a relatively recent import into English. The long, crusty loaf (which is what baguette means in French) used to be called French bread. The term baguette was added to the ninth edition of The Concise Oxford Dictionary published in 1995, with the meaning of a loaf of bread of a particular shape (the texture is frequently very different from the French original!). My own experience of the word baguette in England in 2000 was that it referred to a sandwich made with a piece of French bread, rather than to the loaf itself. I have since seen the same use of the word elsewhere. The question is: is baguette an English word? If it means a sandwich, it is no longer recognisable to the French, because its meaning has changed from the original (as well as its pronunciation, although the differences between the French and the English pronunciations are fairly subtle). So perhaps we can say that it is no longer a French word, but an English one. But what if it means the loaf of bread? Is it then a French word being used to denote a French cultural phenomenon, or has it become an English word, and how can one tell? When a word such as baguette moves from one language to another, we usually talk about ‘borrowing’ and ‘loan words’ (although hijacking might seem a more appropriate meta- phor to some). Precisely when a word crosses the boundary from being a foreign word to being a loan word is an unanswerable question, although we get hints from the way the word in question is printed in text: if it is printed in italics, that marks it as being ‘other’; unchanged font indicates it is not seen as out of the ordinary. Ultimately, this depends on speakers’ attitudes to the word in question. Perhaps more fundamentally, we have to ask whether an adopted word such as koala is a word of a particular variety of English (in this case, a 32 02 pages 001-136 6/8/02 1:26 pm Page 32 word of Australian English) or whether it is simply a word of English. Koalas are probably discussed more in Australia than they are elsewhere, and in rather different terms (they are more likely to be discussed because of the noise they make than because of how cuddly they look, for example). But English only has the word koala for the animal, and a child in Toronto is almost as likely to know the word as a child in Melbourne. This contrasts with a word like bunyip. Although bunyips, like koalas, figure in children’s literature, the word is much more likely to be known in Australia than in Canada, and phrases such as the bunyip aristocracy are likely to be met only in Australia. English only has the word bunyip to denote bunyips, too, but the word is likely to be much more restricted in its geographical occurrence. Is it possible to dis- tinguish between words like koala which are English, and words like bunyip which are Australian English? Again, it seems, not easily, and not by any easily applicable rule. With such words, it is probably less their existence which marks a text as Australian, than their concentration: many mentions of koalas and bunyips (and dingoes, kangaroos, and so on) may suggest an Australian text; an occasional mention may be found in a text from elsewhere. In this chapter we will go on to consider ways in which varieties of English around the world have acquired new words, some of which (but not all of which) will be recognised in Britain. The use of the words marks a text as belonging to a particular variety only if the words are concentrated in the text. 3.1 Borrowing 3.1.1 Borrowing from aboriginal languages The most obvious source of new words for new things in the colonial environment was clearly the language of the people who were already on the spot. Although all sorts of myths circulate about English speakers asking ‘What is that?’ and being told ‘I don’t know what you mean’ and using the word for ‘I don’t know what you mean’ as the name for the new object, there are no authenticated examples of this happening: generally people seem to have made themselves understood well enough. In some places the English speakers did not recognise that the aboriginal peoples spoke a variety of different languages and might justifiably have differ- ent words for ‘the same thing’, but that is a very different problem. Again, it is intuitively fairly obvious that the things newcomers are likely to ask the locals about are ‘Where are we?’ and then about the unfamiliar phenomena surrounding them, in particular flora, fauna and the arte- VOCABULARY 33 02 pages 001-136 6/8/02 1:26 pm Page 33 facts and practices of the aboriginals themselves. These words will be considered as separate classes, simply because there are so many of them, before other, more general words are looked at. TOPONYMS The names of new towns and recently encountered physical features were often chosen by colonisers to remind them of Britain or of the names of their own great people (consider Boston, Melbourne, Queenstown, Vancouver, Wellington, and so on). But they also took over large numbers of aboriginal names, sometimes modifying them on the way. Some exam- ples are given in Figure 3.1. FLORA A few examples of borrowed names for plants are given in Figure 3.2, along with the language they are taken from. Since the plants themselves are not necessarily known outside their own geographical area, these words may not all be known to you (see question 1 for this chapter), but the general principle is well-established, that local words are used for 34 INTERNATIONAL VARIETIES OF ENGLISH Original version Original Name Language if different meaning Australia Noosa Gabi-gabi gnuthuru ghost Toorak Woiwurung tarook black crows Canada Manitoba Ojibwa manitobah strait of the spirit Quebec Abenaki quebecq where the channel narrows New Zealand Otago Maori Otakou place of red ochre Petone Maori pito-one beach end South Africa Bongani Xhosa give thanks Manzimahle Zulu beautiful water United States Chattanooga Creek Chatanuga rock rising to a point Ticonderoga Iroquoian Cheonderoga between lakes Figure 3.1 Some borrowed toponyms 02 pages 001-136 6/8/02 1:26 pm Page 34 unfamiliar local plants. Not, of course, in every case: sometimes familiar words are used for the new plants, and such cases will be discussed below. FAUNA Animals are treated in much the same way as plants, with the same range of possibilities for naming them. Some borrowed words for animals are given in Figure 3.3. VOCABULARY 35 Original form Original meaning Word Taken from if different if different hickory Algonquian pocohiquara drink made from hickory nuts kauri Maori mulla mulla Panyjima mulumulu minnerichi Garuwal minariji mobola Ndebele mbola squash Narragansett asquutasquash uncooked green tsamma Nama tsamas toetoe Maori Figure 3.2 Some borrowed words for flora Original form Original meaning Word Taken from if different if different dingo Dharuk di ŋgu kangaroo Guugu Yimidhirr ga ŋurru male grey kangaroo kookaburra Wiradhuri gugbarra masonja Shona masondya moose Abenaki mos raccoon Algonquian oroughcun skunk Algonquian sega¯kw tsetse SeTswana tsètsè tuatara Maori tui Maori Figure 3.3 Some borrowed words for animals 02 pages 001-136 6/8/02 1:26 pm Page 35 CULTURAL ARTEFACTS AND PRACTICES OF THE ABORIGINAL PEOPLES Just as unknown as the flora and fauna that are met in the colonial situation are the cultural practices of the local peoples and the physical objects used in them. Sometimes a local custom has an obvious equiv- alent word, for example a funeral. Occasionally, the local custom seems so foreign that such an equivalent does not seem justified, as with powwow (listed in Figure 3.4) or the Maori equivalent hui. OTHER MORE GENERAL WORDS Although there are obvious reasons for borrowing words for unfamiliar objects and practices, speakers also borrow words for more familiar things. Sometimes this is done because of the perceived foreignness of the object, sometimes it is done because the borrowed word appears particularly useful or suitable (sometimes for reasons which cannot easily be reconstructed). Some examples are given in Figure 3.5. 3.1.2 Borrowing from other types of English The assumption here has been that speakers of standard British English 36 INTERNATIONAL VARIETIES OF ENGLISH Original form Word Meaning Taken from if different boomerang Dharuk bumarin y bora initiation Kamilaroi buuru ceremony mere club Maori muti African medicine Zulu umuthi mungo bark canoe Ngiyambaa ma ŋgar pa fortified village Maori potlatch ceremonial giving Nuu-chah-nulth patlatsh away of property powwow meeting, Algonquian powwaw gathering sangoma witch doctor Zulu isangoma teepee conical tent Sioux tı¯pı¯ tokoloshe evil spirit Zulu utokoloshe Figure 3.4 Some borrowed words for artefacts and cultural practices 02 pages 001-136 6/8/02 1:26 pm Page 36 brought with them to the various colonies the words of standard British English, and enlarged upon that word-stock by borrowing from local languages. But of course that is a simplification. Not only did emigrants from many different regions settle in the new colonies, bringing with them their own non-standard words, there has been continual contact since settlement with the rest of the English-speaking world. For this reason a word that is only dialectal in Britain may nevertheless be standard (or at least widespread) in another national variety, and words which originated outside Britain may have become standard (or wide- spread) outside their home area (and sometimes in Britain, too). Some examples are given in Figure 3.6. A special case here is the large number of Americanisms, often overtly despised outside North America, but adopted anyway, which have spread not only to Britain but to the rest of the world. Some examples are: disc-jockey, gangster, gobbledygook, hot-dog, itemize, joy-ride, mail-order, porterhouse steak, sky-scraper, trainee, usherette, vaseline. The examples have been chosen to show how unremarkable VOCABULARY 37 Original form and/or Country Word Meaning Taken from meaning if different Aus billabong blind creek Wiradhuri river which runs only after rain Aus budgeree good Dharuk bujari Aus cooee call attracting Dharuk guwi attention CDN hyak hurry up!, Chinook immediately Jargon CDN iktas goods, Chinook belongings Jargon NZ kia ora a greeting Maori Aus koori Aboriginal man Awabakel guri: man CDN loshe good Chinook Jargon SA mbamba illicitly brewed Zulu bamba: strike with liquor a stick US mugwump a great man Algonquian mugquomp: great chief NZ puckeroo broken Maori pakaru Figure 3.5 Some examples of other borrowed words 02 pages 001-136 6/8/02 1:26 pm Page 37 such innovations seem after several years of constant use. (For further discussion see section 7.1.) 3.1.3 Borrowing from other colonial languages In Canada, English speakers met French speakers who were already colonising the region; in the United States English speakers met French speakers near the Canadian border and in Louisiana, and Spanish speakers in New Mexico, Texas and California; in South Africa they met Dutch speakers. These contacts also left their traces. Sometimes place- names are those given by other colonisers (Bloemfontein, Detroit, Los Angeles, Montreal, and so on). Sometimes English has adopted words for colonial phenomena from another colonial language: meerkat, melkboom, moegoe (/ mυxυ/‘country bumpkin’, possibly from Bantu) are all taken into South African English from Cape Dutch/Afrikaans. Sometimes words from aboriginal languages passed through one of these other colonial languages before being borrowed into English. Again, words for flora and fauna are numerous in this process. Examples are given in Figure 3.7. Sometimes words were simply taken over from the other colonising language and applied to local phenomena: armadillo, bonanza, canyon, coyote, palomino, lasso, sarsaparilla, sierra, yucca are all from Spanish; ratel, spoor are from Dutch/Afrikaans; mush! (a command to sled dogs) and gopher (‘ground squirrel’) are both from French. 3.1.4 Borrowing from external languages English is well known as being a language which is very open to bor- rowing, and this overall tendency remains just as important in colonial 38 INTERNATIONAL VARIETIES OF ENGLISH Country Word Original variety Meaning Aus attle Cornish refuse from a mine Aus, NZ dinkum Lincolnshire work, thence true, genuine SA stroller Scottish street kid Aus, NZ stroller US pushchair Aus wild cat (mine) US a mine in land not known to be productive Aus, NZ youse Irish you (pl) Figure 3.6 Words borrowed from external varieties of English 02 pages 001-136 6/8/02 1:26 pm Page 38 Englishes. It is thus not unusual for just one variety of English to borrow from an external language (neither a local aboriginal language, nor a contact colonising language), and for that loan word to be a potential marker of the appropriate variety. Some examples are given in Figure 3.8. VOCABULARY 39 Original Aboriginal Original meaning Word language if different Via French bayou Choctaw stream caribou Mi’kmaq snow-shoveller Eskimo Algonquian eaters of raw flesh pichou Cree toboggan Mi’kmaq Via Cape Dutch quagga Khoikhoi Via Spanish sassafras origin unknown Figure 3.7 Aboriginal terms borrowed into English via other colonial languages Word Used in Origin bandicoot SA Telugu pandikokku depot (‘railway station’) US French dime NAm French echidna Aus Greek, meaning ‘viper’ (because of the shape of the animal’s tongue) malish (‘never mind’) Aus Egyptian Arabic padrao (‘inscribed pillar’) SA Portuguese panga (‘cane-cutter’s knife’) SA Swahili sashay NAm French chassé Figure 3.8 External borrowings 02 pages 001-136 6/8/02 1:26 pm Page 39 3.2 Coining As well as borrowing new vocabulary from other languages, languages all have the ability to generate their own new words and expressions by a number of different means. These are the focus of this section. 3.2.1 Calques: coining on the basis of another language Calques are also called ‘loan translations’, and are a kind of half-way house between borrowing and coining. Rather than borrowing a foreign word or expression as is, each part of that expression is translated into English to form a new English expression. South African English seems to have particularly open to this method of gaining new words. Some examples are given in Figure 3.9. 3.2.2 Compounds By far the most common way of creating new words from the resources of English is by compounding: putting two words together to form a new word. A number of examples from different varieties of English around the world are given in Figure 3.10. 40 INTERNATIONAL VARIETIES OF ENGLISH Word/expression Translated from Meaning land of the long white Maori Aotearoa New Zealand cloud dreamtime Aranda alcheringa mythical era when the world was formed marsh rose Afrikaans vleiroos on one’s nerves Afrikaans op sy senuwees tense and likely to get angry now now Afrikaans nou nou a moment ago stay well Xhosa, Zulu, etc. farewell stockfish Dutch stokvis hake treesnake Dutch boomslang (also used) monkey’s wedding Portuguese simultaneous rain and shine mat house Afrikaans matjieshuis Figure 3.9 Calques 02 pages 001-136 6/8/02 1:26 pm Page 40 3.2.3 Derivatives Although compounding is the most common way of forming new words to describe the new situations met by colonists, derivation is also used, perhaps especially in the USA. From Australia we find derivatives such as arvo, barbie, bathers, watersider ; from Canada words like hauler; from New Zealand words such as gummy, scratchie, sharemilker and ropable (which is also used in Australia); from South Africa comes outie; and accessorize, beautician, burglarize, hospitalize, mortician, realtor, winterize are all from the USA. 3.2.4 Other word-formation processes There are a number of processes besides compounding and derivation which can be used to form new words, and these processes can give rise to words which are identified with one particular variety of English. Clipping gives us gas, gym, movie, narc, stereo (all originally from the USA); blending gives us motel and stagflation (both originally from the USA); back-formation gives us commute, electrocute (both originally from the USA). Clipping with suffixation gives us New Zealand English pluty ‘posh’. And imitation gives us Australian mopoke ‘species of owl’. Every country has its own sets of initialisms and acronyms referring to local institutions. 3.2.5 Changes of meaning As well as the creation of new forms, vocabulary expansion can take place by giving new meanings to old forms. Again, these new meanings VOCABULARY 41 bellbird (Aus, NZ) monkey orange (SA) rhinoceros bird (SA) bloodwood (Aus) mousebird (SA) soap opera (US) boxcar (NAm) murder house (NZ) soapbush (SA) cabbage tree (Aus, NZ, SA) paper bark (Aus, NAm) soda fountain (NAm) catbird (NAm) parrot fish (SA) stickfight (SA) copperhead (Aus, NAm) rattlesnake (NAm) wetback (US) frost boil (CDN) rest camp (for visitors at glare ice (CDN) a game reserve) (SA) Figure 3.10 Examples of compounds formed in varieties of English from around the world 02 pages 001-136 6/8/02 1:26 pm Page 41 . was added to the ninth edition of The Concise Oxford Dictionary published in 19 95, with the meaning of a loaf of bread of a particular shape (the texture is frequently very different from the French. because the borrowed word appears particularly useful or suitable (sometimes for reasons which cannot easily be reconstructed). Some examples are given in Figure 3 .5. 3.1.2 Borrowing from other types. foreign word or expression as is, each part of that expression is translated into English to form a new English expression. South African English seems to have particularly open to this method of